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Joanna Pearlstein

If you want to stop gun violence, start with bullets

Guns don’t kill people; people don’t kill people; bullets kill people. As the nation debates, again, the best way to curb gun violence, many of the questions focus on the firearms themselves. But an equally important consideration is ammunition. Roughly 10 billion rounds are manufactured in the US each year, with a weight equal to two Titanics. More to the point, it’s enough bullets to pump 32 rounds into every man, woman, and child in America.

From the musket ball to the .45 Colt cartridge to the .223 shells used in the Newtown massacre, the story of ammunition is in many ways a familiar tale of technological progress, as bullets have become cheaper, easier to use, and often more deadly. But this engineering success has become a social and moral crisis. Here’s a data-driven examination of the bullet: its variety, its spread, and the policies that might help curb its lethal consequences.

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“It is a principle that the right to a thing gives a right to the means without which it could not be used, that is to say, that the means follow their end.”
–Thomas Jefferson: Report on Navigation of the Mississippi, 1792. ME 3:180

Hey, you know how they “banned” cigarettes? They just started imposing mind-numbing taxes on them.

Imagine this– a box of bullets costs $20. But now you have to pay a $25.00 Federal Law Enforcement eXperience tax, or FLEX tax, on every new box. Suddenly it costs $45 for a box of 20 shells to do some recreational shooting.

Uggh, too much stupid to deal with in that, but one thing is that at the end, by “gun violence”, they mean the last several US mass shootings. Anecdotes. And they lie when they say that one shooter shot 100 times before reloading. The Aurora shooter’s rifle mag jammed after about 30 shots. Many of the dead and injured were due to the shotgun and handgun he used, NOT because he had a 100 round mag. These people have a very tenuous understanding of cause and effect.

Making ammo more expensive hits minorities disproportionately, and penalizes the sporting shooters whose traditions Obama pretends to revere. The criminals who commit the vast majority of murders and use only 2-3 shots are not at all affected by ammo costs.

Also, if ammo sales go down, then a major source of funding for wildlife conservation decreases.

Bullets, huh? Well, with 6 billion rounds a year produced by the US, and even with a generous 10,000 deaths by bullets a year, we get to 0.000167% of bullets “kill” someone. And that’s just a year’s production, not the quantity that are hanging around in gun safes throughout the US.

As one might expect from a non-expert, Pearlstein misses the elephant in the room, which is that the Second Amendment protects ammunition as well as rifles, pistols, and shotguns. Simply put the Supreme Court would strike down almost any attempt to deny the citizenry ammunition.

She also missed the fact that those who purchase the most ammunition are competition target shooters, firearms instructors and their students. They will fire up to hundreds of rounds of ammunition in a single day of training, and in certain kinds of courses, it isn’t uncommon to see 1,500 rounds of ammunition expended in two days. Even the far slower-paced rifle marksmanship training which I teach looks to establish a “rifleman’s cadence,” firing every 3-5 seconds upon full exhale. The murder rate among these groups, with these firearms and ammunition, approaches ZERO.

Criminals that murder don’t, as a rule, practice with firearms because most are already felons. Every shot they fire puts them closer to prison or the morgue. Raising the price of ammunition and/or restricting access to it only penalizes the law-abiding and pushes the nation ever closer to a civil war.

Criminals that murder don’t, as a rule, practice with firearms because most are already felons. Every shot they fire puts them closer to prison or the morgue. Raising the price of ammunition and/or restricting access to it only penalizes the law-abiding and pushes the nation ever closer to a civil war.

Tread carefully

jawkneemusic on February 12, 2013 at 10:21 PM

Of course, that can be said of all gun grabber proposals – they empower the criminals and the government and punish the innocent.

I’m looking to start reloading myself. Any suggestions on where to start looking as far as equipment goes? Want to start with .45 ACP and .223/5.56.

jawkneemusic on February 12, 2013 at 10:23 PM

I would start with either the Hornady Lock-n-Load Classic kit or the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme kit. Both include a solid single-stage press and most of the additional tools you need to get started. If and when you decide to graduate to a progressive press, the included press can still serve niche functions in your operation, and the rest of the kit will support you as completely functional equipment. Personally, I like the Hornady kit slightly more because of the bushing system which allows you to keep all your dies set up and ready for quick changes.

In addition to what you find the kit, you will still need reloading dies for case loading operations and a case tumbler for cleaning brass. There are infinitely more products you can buy to make the process easier and more enjoyable, but they are not necessary.

The problem you will face in getting into reloading right now is shortages in equipment and materials. Just like ammunition, these items are in short supply and are almost impossible to find. Reloading kits, primers, powder, brass, and bullets are being hoarded and scalped like crazy. I have been doing this a long time and have a good stockpile, but those looking to get started are in unfortunate dire straits.

Imagine this– a box of bullets costs $20. But now you have to pay a $25.00 Federal Law Enforcement eXperience tax, or FLEX tax, on every new box. Suddenly it costs $45 for a box of 20 shells to do some recreational shooting.

Bullets, huh? Well, with 6 billion rounds a year produced by the US, and even with a generous 10,000 deaths by bullets a year, we get to 0.000167% of bullets “kill” someone. And that’s just a year’s production, not the quantity that are hanging around in gun safes throughout the US.

Having sold many “bullets”, you have a lot more to fear from those buying one box of cheap ammo than you do of someone buying a case.
Got so all I needed to know was the caliber, “Got anything cheap?” was the next thing out of their mouth.
Profile, why yes, it was a gun store.
For the record, Joanne, you know as much about “bullets” as O’Bama knows about cooking skeets.

Banned substances still make their way into prisons. Prisoners still manage to get murdered inside “secure” prisons. A devious mind never stops … criminals always look for a way.
A loaded gun will not only help to keep violence off my doorstep, it also keeps tyrants at bay.